Tell Me When We Get To The Best Part
by PolyesterRage
Summary: In which Jack Kelly tries and fails to keep his cool around one, David Jacobs. Modern Day AU. Slash.


**Disclaimer:** Sadly, Jack and David (and all the Newsies) belong to Disney.

**Author's Note:** Written for the Refuge's 2012 Summer Secret Slash.

* * *

Things like this didn't happen to Jack Kelly. If Jack Kelly knew one thing, it was how to talk to people. He was a people person. A smooth talker. Awkward moments weren't his thing, and he certainly didn't lose his cool ever, but especially not around cute guys.

Except, okay, maybe that last part wasn't totally true. If the guy was, say, a certain blue-eyed ticket seller at the local movie theater, then Jack did very much lose his cool.

The first time Jack saw David, Racetrack had somehow talked Jack into seeing that new board-game themed action movie. Everything had been smooth-sailing, until Jack got up to the ticket window. Jack was sure he had never seen the guy before. With those blue eyes, Jack would definitely have remembered.

"Hi, how are you tonight?" David looked like he would rather be anywhere else. That was perfect. Jack would just swoop in like a boredom-relieving Batman, and David would be completely unable to resist Jack's charms.

"Oh…I'm fine. Great. How are you?" Charming. Yeah, right.

"I'm fine, thanks." There was a pause. Jack was pretty sure it was the longest pause of his life, and it was possible it would have gone on forever until David said, "So…what movie are you going to see tonight?"

Jack's brain had decided at that point to take a total vacation, and Race actually had to step in and finish up the transaction. Jack had never crashed and burned like that. It was bad. Real bad. So bad that when David had told them to "enjoy the show," Jack had actually answered with, "You too!"

The second time, Jack hadn't actually planned on going to see a movie at all. He was just going to go up to the window, all cool, and just make some small talk. Except, once he got to the window David actually gave him a small smile and said, "What are you going to see this time?" And just the fact that David had remembered him caused Jack freeze up and he blurted out the first movie that came to his head. Which was how he spent the next two hours watching some fairytale movie with Race elbowing his side the whole time and looking at Jack like Jack was a moron.

Attempts four, five, and six hadn't exactly done a lot to disprove Race's theory. The problem, as Jack saw it, was that he couldn't get a read on David at all. Even when Jack itried/i to make small talk, he couldn't figure out if David actually liked talking to him, or if David was super-humanly polite to everyone he saw. Jack kinda hoped it might be a combination of the two.

At least he was broadening his movie horizons, he reasoned to himself. Even if it was burning a hole in his wallet.

It was that last part that was the straw that finally broke Race's back. Race had said he would meet Jack around the corner from the movie theater, but hadn't shown up. After ten minutes of annoyed pacing, Jack had finally called Race to demand answers.

"Come on! Don't do this to me, Race. This'll be the last time! I swear!"

"No. Not again, Cowboy. A guy's gotta put his foot down at some point." Race let out a sigh. "If you like him so much, why don't you try…you know…iasking him out/i ? Crazy talk, I know, but I've heard rumors that it works."

"You don't understand. I can't be the guy that hits on David at his job. Do you even know how creepy that is?"

"Is it more or less creepy than being the guy who makes googly eyes at him every damn week but doesn't say anything? Just talk to him."

At that, Race hung up the phone and Jack was left on his own. He briefly considered just going home and sulking, but decided that would be even more pathetic than anything he'd done yet. So he did the only thing he could do. He went up to the ticket counter.

"Hey, Jack." David was the only one working at the moment. This was it. Jack's moment of truth had arrived.

"...Yeah, I'll just have one for uh…that one with the vampires." Great. Eleven more bucks down the drain as more proof that Jack was a complete life failure. He was never going to hear the end of it from Race.

"Only one this time? Where's your friend?" David was giving him That Smile, the one that made Jack's brain freeze and say stupid stuff, so it took a second for Jack to play catch-up.

"Who? Oh, you mean Race-I mean, Tony? Yeah, he couldn't make it. It's just me, today."

"That's too bad." David looked thoughtful for a second then said, "You know, if you're okay with waiting a few minutes, I get off work in a half an hour. Maybe…we could go see it together?"

Jack's eyes must have bulged out of his head, because David quickly continued with, "I just haven't seen it yet, and since you don't have anyone to go with I just thought…"

Jack knew damage control when he saw it. His moment, which had been thoroughly saved by David, was quickly slipping by. Jack couldn't let that happen again.

"No, no, that's fine. That's…yeah, that's fine. So, uh, I'll buy your ticket now, and maybe later we can grab some food or something?"

Jack didn't know David's smile could get any brighter. It was a good thing to learn. "Great. So, two for the vampire movie, and then I'll meet up with you later?"

"Yeah, that works for me."

Jack walked into the theater lobby with two tickets in his hand, and sat down to wait. He didn't mind waiting just a little bit longer. After all, he had a movie to catch.

Plus he had to call Racetrack up and brag about not being a total life failure. That was important, too.


End file.
